Installed Ubuntu now I'm bored...

[tuebinger90]

I installed Ubuntu on my Dell yesterday and can now dual boot. The problem: Ubuntu is so stable and quiet I don't know what to do with it. With Windows I was always opening task manager and quitting misbehaving apps. The fan doesn't whir constantly and I don't have to wait for web pages to load. Now I just stare at the Bionic Beaver and wait for inspiration. I'm happy... and sort of sad at the same time!

[cruzer001]

You didn't say what model of dell.

My last dell was a m6800 and the touchpad of all things was a pain to get tweaked out. I installed Gnome (not ubuntu-gnome) on it (its in our software sources).

[crip720]

Could always install 'Suicide Linux' and learn not to make typos on command line, but I am thinking you are not that bored.

[poorguy]

The problem: Ubuntu is so stable and quiet I don't know what to do with it.
Now I just stare at the Bionic Beaver and wait for inspiration. I'm happy... and sort of sad at the same time!

I can relate as Ubuntu 18.04 installs OOTB on every computer I use so you have to start looking up things of interest or at least that's what I do.

I did my first UEFI Ubuntu 18.04 install so I've been looking up UEFI / EFI stuff I know absolutely nothing about although now trying to learn about it.

[thumper76]

I'm guessing this is tongue in cheek. I have just setup a new desktop system. I installed Ubuntu for the first time. I am really impressed with this operating system and all the extra features. No dual boot for me. Good bye and good riddance to Windows forever!!

[poorguy]

I've been using Linux since early 2014 and it has always worked well for what I use a computer for.

I've got nothing against Windows 10 although I find I have no use for Windows 10 since Linux works for me.

[gh0zt362]

I've been using Linux since early 2014 and it has always worked well for what I use a computer for.

I've got nothing against Windows 10 although I find I have no use for Windows 10 since Linux works for me.

My first computer was an 80/86 , 40mb HDD , floppy drive , 1200bps modem 384k memory with 784k ext memory and Dos 1.0 Im not a programmer but I learned dos from the ground up . I remember when you had to open windows from the c:\ prompt .... I felt so 3l1t3 when I learned how to include windows in the autoexec.bat file hahaha good ol days .

but I have forgotten a TON of things since I started using linux in 2010 . havent owned a windows machine since . heck ive forgotten a ton of linux stuff since then . That was about the end of needing to compile packages before most everything came pre assembled . Remember " Check to make executable " haha

Linux has come along way and ive used alot of distros . Now I run Ubuntu Studio 19.10 . Great OS has all the multimedia codecs and apps I want pre installed.

I recently was asked to fix a windows 10 computer . First time I'd had to mess with windows in YEAAARRRS .

After messing around with it I told the guy " Hey man I can show you how to fix it if you want . just type cmd in the run box . when you get to the C:\ prompt just type in del *.* /a /s and when it asks you if you are sure type y then enter " hahahaha

he actually went to do it and I stopped him and said i was only kidding hehe . then fixed his issue . But man windows is totally borked from the last distro I used . looked a mess to my eyes .

My Ubuntu studio desktop and launcher looked so clean compared to that mess of an OS

[yetimon_64]

...The problem: Ubuntu is so stable and quiet ...
That sure is a nice problem to have. :)

[lammert-nijhof]

Yes, Ubuntu is boringly reliable, live with it or try new things.

I installed Virtualbox and do most of the work in virtual machines (VM) also for Windows XP, 7 and 10. Try other distros in VMs. I use ZFS as file-system and as storage for VMs. Experience the instantaneous responses, because the VM runs completely from memory cache. Tune ZFS, use compression for everything etc.
I do it on my Ryzen 3 2200G desktop (16 GB, SSD and 3 different old HDDs) and my i5-2520M laptop (8 GB with a SSHD).

[ajgreeny]

I can also relate to this in a big way.

Just for some excitement I recently tried Arch, though the simple way using Arcolinux instead of the rather long, drawn out method using Arch itself.
It was reasonably successful but I preferred the boring way that everything in Xubuntu does exactly what I tell it to (perhaps because I'm now completely confident with all that I need to do) whereas Arcolinux makes some things very much more difficult, eg installing Libreoffice took a long time for me to figure out that you have to use a script from the German Arcolinux site.

Boring it might be, but my Xubuntu just works out of the box for me, is just as quick or quicker than anything I've tried over my 14 years of *ubuntu use, and does not lead me through hoops to get anything done.

Bored? Maybe but I can work with this system and don't need to try hard any more; it just works for me!

[kevdog]

Yes -- Ubuntu is boring -- which is a good thing most of the time -- unless you want to tinker. Arch Linux which I've installed many times is difficult the first couple of times you do it -- but once you've done it a few times it doesn't take more than 30 minutes to get up and running -- and then you're stuck at the same point -- boredom. (Well maybe you'll need to troubleshoot a few things b/c of hardware issues, but once up and running you're at the same point). At this point I'd probably play with ZFS (as mentioned above) or go explore either FreeBSD or FreeNAS which utilizes ZFS. If playing with file systems isn't your thing, you could play with virtualization. Install proxmox (which is a Debian Based hypervisor) and then install Ubuntu/Arch/FreeNAS/pfSense as a VM within proxmox. So many things you could try --;)

[Rubi1200]

What's wrong with boring?

Is it supposed to be difficult or give you a headache or endless frustrations that seemingly simple tasks cannot be accomplished without jumping through multiple hoops only to discover that the only way to deal with it is a registry hack or having the source code (referring to Windows of course)?

The first time I tried Linux was back in 2005 with a Knoppix LiveCD. And that had its challenges back then with manually configuring networks etc.

Boring is a chance to learn the inner workings of the new system you are trying out.

Start reading, start exploring, try running terminal commands, even mess things up just to try fixing them and then reinstall just so you know you can do it.

I don't call that boring at all and I have been doing just that for the past 14 years since that first Knoppix adventure.

[cruzer001]

Boring is a chance to learn the inner workings of the new system you are trying out.
Spot on^^
Gnome3, systemd, lvm, rolling my own to name a few. I been running Ubuntu since 2008 and my todo list just keeps growing. Pass couple of days have been spent playing around with browser security packs. No way for me to get bored :)

[freebird54]

I know of one great time-eater (I won't say time-waster). Have you set up a conky on your system yet? :) There is more than enough in the way of options to keep you busy for good long time - and you don't bork your whole system if(when) it doesn't work right away for you!

Just a passing thought... and there are a couple of threads (here in the Cafe for one, and in General Help for another) with in excess of 20,000 posts to wander through to see what can be done.

Freebird

[ajgreeny]

I know of one great time-eater (I won't say time-waster). Have you set up a conky on your system yet? :) There is more than enough in the way of options to keep you busy for good long time - and you don't bork your whole system if(when) it doesn't work right away for you!

Just a passing thought... and there are a couple of threads (here in the Cafe for one, and in General Help for another) with in excess of 20,000 posts to wander through to see what can be done.

Freebird
:lolflag:

Oh, how right you are!!!!

Conky can become great toy or a huge frustration, and if you want to use up spare time install it and start playing; it's never boring!

[TheFu]

Bored? Really?
How are your backups? Did you fully test the restore?
If the HDD started smoking right now, what would you do?

[cruzer001]

I guess tweaking out a system is not as popular as it use to be. The tweaking for me never stops, always something else out there to try.

Thinking about changing out the Host to just a basic install (virtual server install) on my lappy. Have it boot straight to a guest system. My everyday programs run just as fast as the host, there are exceptions in performance, but no deal breakers. I think this would be a huge security improvement.

[lammert-nijhof]

I guess tweaking out a system is not as popular as it use to be. The tweaking for me never stops, always something else out there to try.

Thinking about changing out the Host to just a basic install (virtual server install) on my lappy. Have it boot straight to a guest system. My everyday programs run just as fast as the host, there are exceptions in performance, but no deal breakers. I think this would be a huge security improvement.

I did the same on my desktop and my main stuff is run by a Xubuntu 18.04.2 Virtual Machine and that includes browsing,emails, torrents, WhatsApp and all office work.
I run banking application and paypall in a separate Ubuntu 16.04.6 VM that is "powered on" say 1-2 hours/week. That VM is exclusively used for these two things.
I have all VMs closed for inbound traffic and I have a separate VM for experiments.

My Host OS is a minimal install of Ubuntu 19.04. I used this version, because it works best with the Vega 8 graphics of my Ryzen 3 2200G. I decoupled the choice of OS, I can select the best OS for my HW, while still sticking for the applications to a LTS release.

I run all Virtualbox VMs from the ZFS file system. The HDDs are striped (Raid 0) and I use half of the 128 GB SSD as cache for the HDDs and I have a 4 GB memory cache. On top of that I use LZ4 compression to reduce the number of disk IOs. A nice 3 level storage hierarchy almost like StoreMI on a Linux system. Response times in the VMs are instantaneous, because of the caching. Memory cache hit rates are 93%. Linux boot times times are in between 10 and 20 seconds, after the SSD cache has been filled. Reboot times are in between 6 and 10 seconds due to the memory cache.

I use the same set up on my i5 2520M laptop with 8 GB and a 1 TB SSHD. Compression really improves the performance of the SS part of the SSHD. I use exactly the same VMs on laptop and desktop.

[kieran-bolger]

Install DOS Box and play some old games, or Super Tux Kart!

[rbmorse]

When I get bored with the computer, I pick up a book. Sometimes it surprises me.

[Rubi1200]

When I get bored with the computer, I pick up a book. Sometimes it surprises me.

+1

We have all forgotten about the joys of reading unfortunately.

[grenic]

I installed Ubuntu on my Dell yesterday and can now dual boot. The problem: Ubuntu is so stable and quiet I don't know what to do with it. With Windows I was always opening task manager and quitting misbehaving apps. The fan doesn't whir constantly and I don't have to wait for web pages to load. Now I just stare at the Bionic Beaver and wait for inspiration. I'm happy... and sort of sad at the same time!

Hey @tuebinger90, why don't you learn app/web development or make yourself a samba file sharing server for the other machines around you?

[jikaczmarski]

Also pulled the dual boot plug a while ago too. Feels good man.